


Not All Meetings Were Foretold

by Drag0nst0rm



Series: Not All Stories [4]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Council of Elrond, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Council of Thorin?, Forgiveness, Gen, Hobbits No Longer Have Any Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 19:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15347082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nst0rm/pseuds/Drag0nst0rm
Summary: The elves arrive at the Lonely Mountain and learn that the One Ring has been found.That's not the only discovery that's discussed.





	Not All Meetings Were Foretold

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Tolkien.
> 
> FINALLY! THIS CRAZY THING IS WRITTEN!
> 
> You can all thank MegMarch1880, because if she hadn't wanted this for her birthday, who knows when you would have gotten it.
> 
> And thank you to everyone on Tumblr who helped me figure out how to handle some of the aftermath that's discussed in this fic!

Long had it been since Elrond had left Imladris, but for this meeting he had taken the risk. He could do no less with what Mithrandir had hinted. He had left Imladris in the capable hands of Erestor and travelled here with a small force that included his sons. As dangerous as the results of this council could prove to be, it was good to travel with them. It had been too long since he had been long in their company. Their wrath against the orcs had been stoked anew by the disappearance of their foster-brother. Long they had searched for him, but hope had faded bit by bit.

Like Estel might have faded, alone and in the hands of the Enemy. Like the last of his brother’s northern people had faded from view until barely a trace of them could be found -

But those were old griefs, and he could ill afford to indulge them now as the council was about to begin.

King Thorin was already there, of course, with both the princes beside him and a counsellor named Balin that Elrond remembered from their long ago stop at Imladris. Boromir of Gondor was there, and Legolas Thranduilion. Mithrandir was slumped in a chair around the great oak table. None of his fellow Istari were with him.

Elrond sat beside him. Elladan and Elrohir took up posts behind him. “Is Saruman not yet here?” he asked in a low voice.

Mirthrandir’s weariness seemed only to increase. “That is a tale for when all have gathered.”

Other came: Thorin Stonehelm from the Iron Hills, a representative from the Golden Wood, and -

Someone of the Dunedain. The clothes were as unmistakeable as the way of movement. The cloak’s hood prevented a glimpse of the face, but Elrond leaned forward anyway. It had been so _long_ \- 

But the tramp of feet interrupted him. A contingent of armed dwarves marched into the room and stopped by the chairs closest to the door.

Then the guards stepped back to reveal another guard, this one beardless, shoeless, and wielding only a club.

A hobbit.

The hobbit reluctantly stepped aside to let the four hobbits behind him take their seats. Three were young and unfamiliar but the oldest he knew.

“Bilbo Baggins,” he said into the silence. “It is _very_ good to see you well.”

“Is it?” Bilbo asked. His tone was sharp, but his hands were shaping. “I had not expected to hear you say so.”

Boromir looked between the two in puzzlement. All the others present had the advantage of at least having _heard_ of hobbits. Elrond very much doubted that Boromir even had that.

Thorin stood. “Allow me to introduce Bilbo Baggins, his nephew Frodo, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took, the future Thain. All are hobbits, formerly of the Shire and currently of Erebor. All who have quarrel with them have quarrel with the entire mountain.” He leveled a dark look at Elrond.

“And with all those who would rally to it,” Thorin’s namesake put in.

Elrond could hardly tear his eyes away from the hobbits. “My people have no quarrel with them, and I would give much to see righted their just quarrel with us,” he said quietly. “Long have the Wise known or guessed your origins, Master Baggins, but we held it close for fear of others’ rash action. I fear, however, that this turned against us, for perhaps less secrecy could have prevented great tragedy. As it was, the rash action we strove to prevent did great evil not only to your people, but to the Dunedain as well.”

“Fair words,” Thorin growled. “But what of action?”

Elrond inclined his head. “Long have we searched that some restitution might be paid, but the Dunedain were too skilled. Even in Bree we found no trace. Now that this obstacle has been overcome, I would be overjoyed to discuss the matter with both groups.” He was already overjoyed just to discover that his people had not wrought a complete ruin of both peoples.

Mithrandir at last spoke up. “A worthy topic indeed, but not, I fear, the one we gathered to discuss.”

“Then what is?” Stonehelm asked.

The history of the Ring, the treachery of Saruman, and the necessary action poured forth. Elrond had scarcely believed that anything could surprise him more than what had already been said. He was unhappy to be proven wrong by these accounts.

With the Ring’s fate decided, its discoverer was the first to speak. “I suppose I must be the one to take it then,” Bilbo sighed. “Since I was the one to start this whole mess.”

“You’ve had your adventure, uncle,” Frodo said, trying to hide his overwhelming concern for the elderly hobbit. He swallowed hard. “I will do it.”

“Then I’m coming with you,” Meriadoc said firmly. “You’ll need someone to trade off with.”

“And me,” Peregrin said.

The other hobbits immediately roared in protest. “You’re too young!” Meriadoc cried over the uproar.

“I’m coming,” he insisted. “I do better with it than half the others, and you know it.”

“I’m coming too,” the guard said suddenly. “If Mr. Frodo’s going, I shouldn’t feel right staying behind.”

The hobbits then seemed to regard the matter as settled.

“I shall guide you for as long as I may,” Mithrandir said. 

“We would come too if you will permit it,” Elladan said from behind his father’s chair, and Elrond had to swallow the sudden rise of crushing fear. He could not fault his sons for offering, and yet . . . 

Balin spoke up. “We have no quarrel with an elvish representative, but perhaps for the sake of cohesion, someone else . . . ?”

The Galadhrim representative looked alarmed which was a much more sensible expression than Legolas’s regret.

“Alas that I could!” he cried. “But my father sent me here to warn of the horrors growing in Mirkwood. Every warrior will be needed and indeed, he sent me hoping that more could be find.”

“Bold of him,” one of the dwarves muttered.

“Peace,” Thorin said, holding up his hand. “ _We_ will honor our alliance. Gimli’s company could, I believe, be spared, and I would trust them with the task.”

The hobbits had been conferring with a series of hasty gestures and complicated facial expressions. Frodo spoke up.

“Did you ride on the Shire?”

“We did not,” Elladan said. “Nor would we have permitted it had we known.”

“Then you might as well come,” Frodo said. “It seems hardly fair to blame you.”

The hobbits did not seem to consider this nearly as much of a remarkable statement as the rest of the table.

Prince Kili broke the silence. “I’m coming too.”

“Not alone you’re not,” Prince Fili instantly said, but his uncle stopped him.

“I cannot spare both of you. Kill, are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” he said cheerily.

“I shall come too, at least for a ways,” Boromir said. “Though I will need to turn aside to Gondor.”

“And I shall accompany you there if you permit it,” the Ranger said.

Elrond did not need the introduction that came next. 

It was Estel.

 

Elladan and Elrohir cornered Aragorn at the first opportunity.

“Estel,” Elrohir greeted him. “You’re still alive.”

Old memories stirred at the name. “I have not gone by that name for many years.”

“Appropriate,” Elladan said, “seeing as we had lost hope for approximately the same number of years. We thought you lost.”

“I was retrieved by my kin,” he protested.

“By kin who were not supposed to know you were there, who took you without warning, and who promptly vanished. We thought them subverted by the Enemy,” Elrohir said.

“We searched for you,” Elladan said quietly. “Through all the north and as deeply south as we dared push, hoping for some sign.”

“It broke Ada’s heart.”

“That was not all that was broken,” Aragorn pointed out, but his heart was not in it. Much had been clarified by the council, and he no longer blamed his foster-family as he once had.

“He grieved that too,” Elladan said somberly. “We all did, and though there is little enough that can be made right, still, we try.”

Aragorn let out a long breath. “I will speak to Master Elrond,” he promised. It had been hard to think so ill of him. He was glad to let it go.

“Excellent,” Elrohir said.

Elladan slung an arm around his shoulders. “And you’ll have the whole quest to tell us what you’ve been up to, little brother.”

**Author's Note:**

> My original plan was to type out a long defense of why I chose the Fellowship that I did for this, but it is late, and I am tired. If you have questions or complaints, mention them in a comment, and I'll address them then. I might come back and fill it all in here later when my thoughts are less concerned with sleep.
> 
> To anyone interested in seeing how this new Fellowship and starting point change events: Good news! MegMarch1880 was too, so I wrote a three part answer to that (two parts Fellowship, one part Legolas and Gimli interlude) that just needs to be transferred from a notebook to my laptop. So no six month waiting period this time!


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